Irish Upset By Ball State 80-77

Return of the MAC indeed.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost to the Ball State Cardinals, 80-77 on a last second three point shot by Tayler Persons. It was Notre Dame’s second loss in three games, and the Irish looked like a tired team that lost some bounce in its legs as well as any touch on their shots.

Four Irish starters scored double-digit points and were led by Bonzie Colson with 26 points.

Notre Dame shot just 73% from the foul line to Ball State’s 87%. Notre Dame was 19-26, and those 7 points really cemented the loss before Persons did his damage (which was immense as he led the Cardinals in scoring with 24 points).

Another spot that Ball State bested the Irish at was their bench scoring. Notre Dame only managed 6 points off the bench (all from John Mooney) while the Cardinals spread the love with 22 points off of their bench.

The Irish go on the road next to take on the Delaware Blue Hens before Taking on the Indiana Hoosiers in Indianapolis in the Crossroads Classic.

This was the first non-conference game that the Irish have lost at home in four years.

Pat Sullivan was at the game and will shortly provide his insanely good recap to this otherwise craptastic game.